Pick one lightheavyweight to fight Jack Johnson

Foster was a great fighrer and no offense to him or any of his fans, he never beat a decent heavy, thereofore the chances of him beating Johnson are zero

 

Johnson was smaller than the heavyweights that beat Foster.

 

In one of his best performances against Jeffries ,Johnson scaled 208,the heavies that beat Foster were Ali 2211/4
Terrell 2021/2
Jones182
Folley 212 1/2
Frazier209

So Johnson ,who scaled between 192 and 225 would not be significantly smaller than Foster,s other heavy opponents,given that Foster weighed 180 for Frazier [209] and that Jack was 208 for Jeffries ,and slightly taller than Frazier,I dont think you have much to hang your hat on.

 

208's much bigger than Johnson usually came in at, and fairly latter in his career as well.

 

Johnsons weight for his defences.205 v OBrien
207 v Ross
209 v Kaufman
205 1/2 v Ketchel
208 v Jeffries
195 1/2 v Flynn
221v Moran
205 1/2 v Willard
The weight against Jim Johnson n/a
These weight s are comparable to ,say Frazier,I havent bothered to post them ,I hope you will take my word.Johnson wasnt a small Heavy.

 

I'm aware Johnson was an admirer of Greb and that Greb made Dempsey look silly in sparring ,but didn,t know that Jack and Harry sparred ,have you any info on this?

 

Yeah, what happened between Greb and Johnson?

 

In regards to fistic ability, Johnson remains the most over-rated of champions. His legion of blinded admirers fall over themselves giving excuses for his spotty record and embellish his legend to the extent they could even conceive of him competing with modern fighters. It's a real gas reading this stuff, though.

 

How do his fans do this?

 

At his peak Johnson pushed 215lbs without an ounce of fat on him.

He began his career fighting at about 150lbs, so was essentially a welterweight, although he still fought men weighing up to 235lbs when he was only 156lbs, even given he had virtually no amateur experience.

His record at his peak is quite astounding, he went 14 years without being beaten decisively and put almost every name available on his resume during that time.

Johnson liked to stand flat-footed, with his gloves held low to lure his opponent into leading, then used his supernatural reflexes to evade and counter with big chopping right hands and combinations, before shuffling away. He was very much a more flat-footed version of Mayweather, he was fast enough to get away with his right hand lead, and wasn't particularly prolific with the jab. Classic punishing counterpuncher.

Much like Mayweather we know Johnson was also very good on the inside, if his opponents pushed the fight onto him a la Ricky Hatton.

I think the lightheavyweight best equipped to defeating Johnson was Archie Moore - He had fast hands, was a masterful infighter, and was one of the few fighters who could match Johnson for cleverness. Johnson was stronger but with Moore's sneaky right hand I could see him dropping Johnson.

I think stylistically Tunney is the worst choice possible, a pure boxer who liked to open with the jab and keep his distance, not electing to fight on the inside. He was fast, but I could see him being countered and overpowered. Tunney thrived against pressure fighters.

As for Roy Jones, I just can't see it. Not for a second.

However I'm not someone that would favour any lightheavyweight against any genuine upper tier heavyweight. Even though I do think it's possible, the 30lbs in muscle and difference in stature shouldn't be ignored.

 

Mike Spinks - tall, good reach, takes a good punch and delivers a good one too. Great endurance and a smart fighter. Very awkward and difficult to hit cleanly.

Billy Conn - Did very well against a big hitter in Joe Louis. Was tenacious and clever. Also difficult to land cleanly against. Stunned Louis in the first fight despite a 26 pound weight difference.

I will go with Spinks in this one.

 

Bob Fitzsimmons

 

"Zero"?

:hey

 

Yes Zero. If you want to say Frazier and Ali were better then Johnson, id agree, but Terrell and Jones were not. And this is not meant to be a criticism of him, for he was a natural light-heavyweight,(one of the best at that), but not a good heavyweight

 

Regardless of Foster's record at heavyweight zero is a bad description. One might put big odds against him, but he has to have some sort of chance no matter how slim. He rammed some good shots off Ali and even cut him, this fight is being fought with much smaller gloves.

Remember too with such a leap of time we might be surprised to see Johnson's skills weren't as effective as we thought. I am certainly not counting that out to say the least.